Discus Plague... Dying

[lexylopez]

I had this red turq .....(okay it died just this morning)... and I wanted to know what was the cause of its death.. Heres' a pic.. as you could see its belly is very swollen... then it eventually died...

[lexylopez]

I have this Red stone and it had this small lump on its left side... at first it looks like loose skin, then now it got bigger and looks like its rotting... I dunno what this is, I'm not familiar with fish diseases... :( This one is still alive, and am trying to save it... Please help me on this!!!

[Merrilyn]

Lexy, it's not discus plague. The symptoms are wrong, but I have a feeling it may be fish TB. I'm going to do some more research, and get back to you, but in the meantime, remove the affected fish to a hospital tank with salt in the water. It's highly contageous. Sterilize your net after moving the fish, and wash your hands carefully after doing anything to the hospital tank. Some forms of TB can be passed to humans as a form of skin infection.

Give me a couple of hours, and I'll post some more exact information.

[lexylopez]

Its laying on its side now!!! Help!!!! Tell me what to do!!! :(

[sammigold]

Have you moved it to hospital tank?

If so it may be laying like that because its a little stressed at the move and may right itself...

As ladyred has said at the moment put some salt (rock salt or aquarium salt) in at a rate of 1 teaspoon per 40 litres..(this can help in healing and also relax your fish a little)

Other than that I would say just wait for LR as she will investigate this thoroughly for you before she suggests a treatment... you would hate to treat it for the wrong thing...

Hang in there!!! I know its hard waiting but nobody wants to give wrong advice... :)

[jim from sydney]

i would also a w/c more frequently whilst in the hosp. tank, like at least twice a day 50%, sometimes increase the temp a bit may assist.....32C wont harm....keep the parameters correct.....Jim

[Trebs]

Does your digital camera have a macro mode? If so you will be able to take clearer close up pics which will hopefully make diagnosis easier.

Good luck with the rest of them.

[lexylopez]

Guys..... my fav diskee just died.... :cry: :cry: :cry: and it hurts real bad!!! :cry: two of my diskees are infected with the same kind of disease... I think its HLLE... :roll: .... Are there any sugestions there on how to treat it while the *%+*% wound is still small??? By the way, am gonna use my digicam the nextime I post pictures here. Guys thank you so much for the support, Please help not loose one of em' again.... :?

Regards.
Lexy :cry:

[sammigold]

Lexy, there is a sticky in the illness med section that talks about treatment for HITH and HLLE have a look at that hopefully it will help...

Here is the link : http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2475

Sorry about your loss! :cry: I really feel for you. Good luck with your others...

[Merrilyn]

So sorry you lost your favourite discus Lexy. Everything I'm reading on the net and everything I find in my fish diseases books points to fish TB, particularly at the rate the disease is progressing.

There are some suggestions about dosing the tank with a strong antibiotic, but most seem to think that an affected fish will die, and the only hope you have of preventing the disease going through your entire tank is to isolate immediately any affected fish.

If I were you, I think I'd be heading off to my vet to have skin scrapings done on a recently affected fish, and have the scrapings examined under a microscope to try to determine the cause.

As I said before, please be very careful when handling affected fish. Make sure you have no cuts or scratches on your hands (if so, wear rubber golves) and be sure to scrub your hands with soap and water after doing anything to the tank.

All nets and equipment used on the hospital tank should be soaked in chlorine bleach before re use.

Wish I had better news for you, but I do think this is pretty serious and needs the advice of a medically trained vet to sort it out.

[jim from sydney]

I am so sorry too about that your lost your favourite discus Lexy. LR gave you some good advice, remember all you can do is try. However we sometimes loose. Try not to worry too much, just attack the problem with care........good luck....Jim

[lexylopez]

Ey GUys, Thanks so much for the support. I can see that all hell broke loose in my tank. :( And like now, I have a new problem... My golden high-fin and the bigger Red Turq have this pimple like thinggies on em... Heres a pic... but its not from a digicam... sorry... but its clear enough for you guys to really see :wink: It really looks like a pimple, though am sure that its not a pimple.. lol! I stopped feeding em flakes and brought back the frozen goods (now, am bankrupt!hehe :roll: ) I think it has something to do with me coaxing them to eat dried foods :shock: My diskees never got sick that bad when I was feeding em bloodworms. They're all acting normal though, but the pimple thinggie is really bothering me. I do a 30%WC everyday, and I use the UV 24/7 (unlike before...hehe :oops: ) ... Some help pweezz!!! Thanks again!

Regards,
LExy :shock: *dies*

[sammigold]

If it is TB as LR has suggested I would get those guys out as it may be the start of the ulceration type lesions that you had on the other two you lost....and you dont want it spreading to any other fish....

Pop them in your hospital tank and keep them under observation see what happens....

If you have an outbreak like this that may be highly contagious you might think about dosing your entire tank with medication to prevent anymore losses...(but you really need to know exactly what your dealing with as you could do more harm than good medicating with the wrong stuff!)

Have you been to the vet with your dead fish like LR suggested?.... it may cost you a bit to get diagnosed but it may help you save the rest of your fish... which would be very costly to replace not to mention the heartbreak of watching them suffer...

HTH

[lexylopez]

Finally, I found a veterinarian that knows something about fishes.... There aren't alot of fish-caring vets here... Well, I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks

Regards,
Lexy :shock: *dying*

[sharn]

might be a stab in the dark but what about lympho. id go with the others though, hope everything works out for you *hugs*

[lexylopez]

Okay so like the vet came here just now. he still doesn't know that much about fishees.... or the Diskees. He gave me a prescrition though... He told me to give Metronidazole... I'll follow the instructions on the link that sammigold gave me :D Hope this all works out. If you have any opinions wether I should conitnue this treatment or not please do inform me ASAP. Thanks guys! Hugs (sharn lol)

Regards,
Lexy *bankrupt...* *dies* :shock:

[sammigold]

Good luck!!! Keep us posted!!

[Merrilyn]

If he's given you metro, then he believes it's a bacterial infection.

Hope it helps. Yes follow the instructions, and remember to keep the light out. Metro is destroyed by light.

[sammigold]

Hi Lexylopez,

I found this link on the net and maybe if you have a chat to your vet you can see what they think....just another possibility for them to look at...

this is the question and answer i found...


Q: My fish had a pimple on the skin, and now it is a large sore. Other fish are covered with large sores and dying in droves.
A: This sounds like a bacterial disorder, either Aeromonas bacteria or Pseudomonas bacteria. This disorder is common in Koi ponds.

Treatment: Use a combination of Oxytetracycline Hydrochloride + Oxolinic Acid Powder on the fish for a two week treatment. These medications can also be used in the feed (suggested). If used in the feed, add Forma-Green to the water. Bumping up the temperature to 84 degrees fahrenheit has shown to speed up this treatment.


this is the link....
http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/Q&A/skin_disorders.html

hope that helps.... it may give your vet some ideas if the metro doesnt help......

good luck!!